These Eyes Let Slip My Heart
by snowzone5
Summary: AU. Mike is in a terrible crash. Off duty paramedic El Hopper is the first on scene. She saves Mike and follows the ambulance to the hospital. Mike won't wake up. She is training to be a Physio Therapist, and Mike will be her first assignment. El learns about Mike and falls in love with him. Will she give up on Mike or wait for him to wake up?
1. Chapter 1 - The Crash

**A/N: I'm one of those Stranger Things fans who believes El has a pure heart. Consider this my tribute to the character.**

* * *

 **The Crash**

The snow was blinding. Mike knew he should have started the trip back to Hawkins sooner or just waited for the next day. The snow hadn't started till he was almost home, but it came on quickly and he found himself driving slower and slower. He was almost down to a few miles an hour when it happened…

* * *

...Mike was cold….he knew he was slowly freezing to death...he opened his eyes...and then closed them again in pain…he heard the voice of an angel…"stay with me...I'm going to get you out"...he heard the screaming of metal being rended, ripped apart with a deafening vibration... he _saw_ the angel, her eyes...the angel was crying…"I've got you," the angel said…"I've _got_ you."...the angel laid her hand on his cheek...it was so warm...

* * *

El Hopper was on her way back to visit her dad for the holidays. She had extended vacation time and had decided to take advantage of it. She would be training at the hospital for the next year or so and would have very little time off during that period.

The storm had passed, and El had decided to leave before the sun came up. It was still dark when she started her drive.

Something was wrong. She could see headlights up ahead on the road and they were at completely wrong angles. Shit. A crash. Two cars. You couldn't even call one of the vehicles a car anymore, it was completely unrecognizable as one. El's training kicked in at that point and she was all business.

She assessed the first car, it looked completely undamaged. El poked her head in the car and could smell the alcohol . The driver was done, being drunk hadn't saved him this time. El was not an accident investigator, she was pretty sure they'd come to the same conclusions. As a paramedic she'd seen this before. Happened every year when the holidays were approaching.

The next car was a total write off. It was hard to even tell that the car was upside down it was such a mess. She didn't hold out much hope for the driver. She steeled herself. This was going to be bad.

She looked in the, the guy...ok El thought feeling flushed, ashamed...let's just call him a rock star...he opened his eyes and looked at her, then squeezed them shut in pain. He was still alive!

There was no way she should could wait for emergency services to arrive in time with the jaws of life. She had her radio and would still call it in, but this guy needed to be out of the wreckage now. She told him to hold on, she would get him out. She looked around out of careful habit.

No one would see.

El ripped the entire car in half with the precision of a surgeon. She held his body in place at the same time so he wouldn't suddenly shift. She was desperate to keep him stable in case he had internal injuries, at first look he seemed to be ok on the outside. El put everything she had into it. It only took a few minutes It was loud, she wouldn't have been surprised if they could hear it all the way in town, it sounded like a slow train wreck.

He was free of the car! El was hurting, the strain had brought tears to her eyes, she rushed over to him, avoided moving him. She wanted to let him know he was safe. He opened his eyes, she looked into his, crying. She took off her jacket and covered him up, she touched his cheek. "I've got you." she said, then in triumph, "I've _got_ you."

* * *

El followed the ambulance to the hospital. The guy hadn't regained consciousness when loaded into the ambulance, after she identified herself to the EMS team on site, they told her his vitals were good, he wasn't in any immediate danger. They said if she hadn't gotten there when she did, the guy would likely be dead.

El knew she would have to wait while the driver was fully assessed in emergency. She took the time to register with the hospital, she'd done all the leg work the previous week so it went fairly quickly.

The crash happened outside the jurisdiction of Hawkins, so she had to give her statement to a state trooper and not her dad.

"That's a first," the trooper told her, "usually the drunks in the wrecked car don't have a scratch on them, it's the other way around today. Good way to start of the holidays." He wasn't being sarcastic, like El, he saw this every year.

"How fast was that guy going to hit the guy's car so hard it ripped it in half. I can't believe there's not a scratch on him." He was shaking his head.

"You are that guy's guardian angel...you going to be checking in on him?" The trooper knew that first responders tended to check up regularly on the bad ones until they knew for sure. El nodded.

"Yes, I'll be working and training here for the next year or so."

"Ok," the trooper wrote down something in his notebook, ripped off the sheet and handed it to her. "Hawkins is actually my hometown. I know this guy's sister, I'm the guy who has to go tell the family...at least it's good news. Let me know if his condition changes. Anytime."

El read what he wrote: Steve Harrington with a phone number. "I haven't checked his chart yet, what's his name?"

"Mike Wheeler, local kid who made it pretty big as a musician." El smiled to herself. So he _was_ a rock star.

* * *

Near the end of her shift, El went to visit Mike Wheeler. There was a red haired woman checking his pupil response.

"Are you his nurse?" El asked

"I'm his doctor...Mayfield...you are?"

"El Hopper," she held out her hand.

"You're the one who saved him from freezing to death out there." Max shook her hand. "Oh and you are the new physio, you switching careers? You showed a lot of skill out there, be tough to lose someone with your talent out in the field."

"Just a bit of a change of pace." She gestured to the room, "not sure I can take the tragedy out there anymore...I want to be part of the healing process, for the people who can at least make it here."

Max gave her a warm smile. "We really do need people like you here."

"Why hasn't he regained consciousness yet? El said.

"This is one of those cases where there is no real reason. Physically there's nothing wrong with him." Max tapped her head, "up here, he's not ready. The family will be here soon, I'll explain to them that he needs regular visits from people who love him and his friends." She looked at El.

"And has the person who saved him, and the last to talk to him, maybe you could make regular appearances? Actually, he will need physio, I can recommend that you for this case?"

El nodded, maybe more enthusiastically then she should have. "This would help me ease into the role, thank you doctor."

"Please, call me Max, we're colleagues, with a common interest," She turned back to Mike Wheeler sleeping peacefully. "Uh, Mike is a friend. I've known him since I was twelve or thirteen. We are short staffed, so I'll to be his doctor. This guy is special, so…" she looked at El, walked over and hugged her. "Thank you."

El was touched, "it's ok Max, I will treat him like he is my friend also."

* * *

El went to check on Mike Wheeler.

She saw two women at his bedside. Mother and sister, El thought. She kept a respectful distance.

They looked up at her, puzzled, "Are you one of Mike's doctors?" The younger woman said.

"No, Dr. Mayfield will be his doctor until he fully recovers. I'm his assigned physio therapist, we do that for...these situations." El didn't want to refer to him as a 'case'. "I was also the first responder at the scene."

The mother was holding back tears and came over to hug El, "you saved Michael's life." Mike Wheeler's sister was not quite as stoic and burst out into tears, she came over and hugged El also. "Thank you."

They left soon after, El took the opportunity to check his chart. She heard some movement in the room and saw two young men enter with Max.

"I found these two wandering the halls looking for Mr. Wheeler's room. They are my friends.," Max looked a little flushed, "I'm also a fan of their music."

"This is Lucas Sinclair, he's the drummer. That's Dustin Henderson, the bass player. Mike is the guitar player and lead singer."

"This is the first responder, and will be MIke's physio therapist."

The guys smiled politely and Lucas shook El's hand. Lucas looked back to Max and smiled.

To El's surprise, Dustin gave her a hug, "thank you for saving our best friend."

"I have rounds, if you stay a bit past visiting hours, I won't tell anyone." Max smiled and left.

"When I do his physio, it will help when I talk to him. Can you tell me about him? I can work details into what I say. May help trigger his recovery."

Dustin looked at Lucas and said at the exact same time, "he's the nicest guy you're ever going to meet." Dustin continued, "with the possible exception of me." Lucas rolled his eyes.

El felt funny inside. Warm for sure, she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She liked the feeling.

"That's great, but some hobby details mainly, I don't know much about music. Maybe I can play some of your music, low of course, to him while I work with him."

Dustin and Lucas looked at each other, Dustin reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a cd. "We think alike."

"Does he like to read? I can read one of his favourite books to him." They looked at each other again. Lucas handed over three books he was carrying .

"Are you sure you aren't his girlfriend, and he's been hiding you from us?" El flushed a deep red.

"I'm sure you guys all have plenty of girls hanging around."

Dustin looked embarrassed, "uh, we aren't your typical musicians."

"What is the name of your band"

"The Party." Dustin and Lucas at the same time again.

* * *

Dustin and Lucas had followed the hospital visiting hours rules and left with minutes to spare.

El put the cd in a portable player on the nightstand and started Mike's physio.

"Ok, Mike. We are going to go through your workout. I want you to be able to stand with as little help as possible when you wake up. And you _will_ wake up Mike, I want to say hello to the nicest guy I'm ever going to meet." She flushed again, even though she knew he couldn't see her.

El was very professional, with her training reminding her of what needed to be done. It would have been an outrageous lie to say that she wasn't secretly thrilled to be touching Mike Wheeler. What was _that_ about?

It had been a long day, and El knew it would be a long day tomorrow. She made some tea, and decided to read to Mike for a few minutes.

"Mike, I'm going to read to you. I may get some of the voices wrong, but you know what? You can just wake up and correct me ok?" El smiled at Mike, "ok then, we have a deal."

"When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton."

Two words struck El, immediately: eleventy and party.


	2. Chapter 2 - Day Eleven

**Day Eleven**

El had completely cancelled her vacation. She was dedicating her free time to Mike Wheeler. She couldn't explain it. She didn't know him, she wasn't his friend…."Oh but you want to be don't you El?" She said to herself. She felt something for him. She couldn't explain it. It just _was_.

Dustin had come by on Day two, to talk to Mike and tell her about the time Mike almost jumped off a quarry cliff if it would save Dustin some pain inflicted by a local bully. El said worried, , "but there was water at the bottom right?"

"Sure, but that far down, it wouldn't have made any difference. Be like hitting solid ground." El looked in wonder over at Mike. He would have died for his friends. Her bottom lip quivered a bit.

"You ok?" Dustin said.

"Wow." El said.

"I know." Dustin said,

He lowered his voice so Mike wouldn't hear. "But Karma is a bitch. That bully died in the car that hit Mike. He was an asshole. And it looks like he died of his own stupidity. Maybe that makes me an asshole for not giving a shit , but he terrorized the Party all through school. So Karma is a bitch...but she's my friend, I don't really give a shit. Uh sorry for the swearing...hard habit to break."

El could tell that Dustin didn't mince words. Friends are one thing, honest friends, _really_ honest friends...that was rare. El hoped to be their friend one day. She hoped to be _more_ than friends with Mike. She had absolutely no idea why she felt that way. She was drawn to him, not because he was an accident victim. They tend to elicit natural sympathy from people, this was different... _Mike_ was different. She knew it instinctively.

"Ah, that's why the band name is 'The Party'. "

"Yeah, it was a toss up between that and 'Friends Don't Lie' or 'Promise'. We figured if we wanted to get a lot of gigs, we'd be better off going with The Party. " El knew immediately the significance of the other two names. These guys were different.

For the last ten days. El talked to Mike all through physio. And read to Mike for two hours every night. Sometimes she'd stay longer and talk to him for another hour. Tonight she wasn't going to read to him. Just talk.

Physio was done. "So Mike...I want to tell you a story." She moved the reading chair closer to the side of his bed. "If you don't like it. Wake up and tell me to stop, ok?" She waited. "Ok then, we have a deal."

El told Mike how she'd been kidnapped as a baby. How a government scientist had experimented on her Mama. And whisked the results of that experiment off to the lab.

She told Mike how she knew she from an early age that she had an ability. They called her Eleven, and said they would give a fun way to show her name, but putting it on her arm. That was the first time she cried. The pain of thousands of little pin pricks hurt so much she couldn't help it.

At first they lab scientists encouraged her to do all kinds of fun things. Move her stuffed animals around. Tell her she could have any candy she wanted, she just had get the candy from a locked box across the room...from where she sat at the table.

She told Mike they would put her in a cold bath, and ask if she could see the clown making balloon animals in another room. That was easy. She'd laugh when the clown squeaked the balloons, or rubbed them on his arm and made them stick to his bright orange hair.

She was able to do all those things. They were fun. She could do them all day long. It made her nose bleed a little bit, but they told her that was just a minor side effect. She had no idea what that meant at the time.

She told Mike that one day, they wanted her to crush a Coke can. Not move it. Crush it. She thought it was odd, but she didn't have any problem. They said they wanted to measure what she did. She had no idea what they would measure, but they put a wire net on her head that had lots of blinking lights on it, and scratched a little bit. They told her that in order for it to work, they need to cut all her hair off. She liked her hair and didn't really want it cut off, but they said it would grow back.

They never let it grow back. Every couple of days she got another cut. They called it trimming. They were still cutting her hair. She didn't want them to do that.

One day they gave her a kitten. She was allowed to play with it, every time she crushed the Coke can. The quicker and harder she crushed the can, the quicker she would get to play with the her kitten.

The clown, they said, had to go away, but there was someone else she could watch. All she had to do was tell them what he was saying. And then she could play with her kitten. The bath was a little colder this time. She didn't understand what the man was saying, and couldn't repeat it. So they said, she didn't really do what they had asked and she couldn't play with her kitten. That was the second time she remembered crying. She told them she would do better next time, really, just, could she play with the kitten again.

No.

She told Mike that there weren't as many rewards or fun things to do. They began to punish her for what she _couldn't_ do and not rewarding her for what she could.

She told Mike about the worst day of her life. They said a dangerous animal had gotten into her kitten's cage...Could they help? They said it was called a mouse. She was worried about her kitten, if she helped they said, they'd let her play with it all day. She asked what she could do. They said it was really easy. Just crush the mouse like she did the Coke can. She asked if her kitten would be safe, they said yes it would. So she did. There was a lot of blood. So much that she got scared and she cried again. That was the third time.

She told Mike that the fourth time she cried was the last day she was at lab. They said she could no longer play with her kitten. It was no longer a kitten but a cat, they said cats were mean. They would just hiss at her and you couldn't play with them at all. If they hissed at her it meant they wanted to really hurt her, and she needed to defend herself. Crush? She said. Crush. They said.

So they led her to a room. Her cat was in a cage, it started hissing as soon as she was in the room. They put the wire net with all the blinking lights on her head. It still scratched her head, even more with the short hair. The cat hissed loudly, he was so big she knew there would be much more blood this time. She would look at the cat hissing at her, and then look up at the window the scientists were behind . She would look back and forth. Finally she tore off the wire net, and started crying. That was the fourth time. They dragged her off to the bad room. She pleaded with them.

But they wouldn't listen.

She told Mike she would not cry a fifth time in that lab. So she hurt the men, but she only did it to protect herself, they had always told her it didn't matter who or what she hurt, if she was protecting herself it was ok.

She told Mike she escaped into the rain. The rain was cold. _She_ was cold. And scared, she thought she would never be warm or safe again.

She told Mike that a large bear of a man, had found her in the woods, far away from the lab. He had covered her with his jacket and hugged her. "I've got you," he said. "I've _got_ you." He told her she was safe, bad men would not find her. He carried her to his warm truck. She said "thank you" to him, and he coughed a bit and said "no problem, kid" , she told him she was ok now , and he started to cry. She gave him a hug, because she knew they worked. And he cried harder still.

That man was Chief of Police Jim Hopper. He would feed her, and he would protect her, and he would teach her. Later he would adopt her. As far as she was concerned it was just a piece of paper. He was already her father.

She told Mike that she dedicated herself to helping others, she wanted to be there on what might be the worst day of their lives. Maybe it would be her jacket that would keep them warm.

El then did something she was not ashamed of, but she knew was completely unprofessional. She went over and kissed the corner of his eye.

Ok, El admitted to herself. I know now.

"You wake up Mike." She whispered, "you wake up so so I can tell you that I love you."


	3. Chapter 3 - Day 29-38

**Day 29**

Max was on a schedule of later shifts, and took the opportunity to visit Mike Wheeler again. She knew that El Hopper would be there doing his physio.

A few times she would hang outside of his room after one of his friends or family had left and listen to El talk to him. She had to smile. El talked to him like he was awake and participating in the conversation. She talked to him like a friend. Like she'd known him for ages. Max could see that El worked _hard_ on the physio.

"How's it going?" Max said. Her and El were pretty good friends by this time. They spent a number of nights out with Dustin and Lucas. All of them getting to know each other. And El getting to know Mike. Max watched El listen intently to the guys when they talked about Mike. She could see El change slowly over the course of the month. She seemed, not so much to lose her confidence, but to develop a single-mindedness that Max had never seen before in a person. She was focused. Max knew she what, make that who, she was focused on. She worried about her.

"No change, you're the doctor, is this normal?" El said.

"Every case is different. There's no real benchmark for 'normal'" Max airquoted.

"I have to say though, I had to give him a physical yesterday, and you are doing an excellent job of keeping his muscle tone. When he wakes up he should need less help to stand than most patients need. You must be exhausted with that kind of physical work."

"Helps me keep my girlish figure." El said joking. "I'm determined that he's in good enough shape to hang out with his friends again. "

Max looked serious. "Don't get emotionally involved El. it could be weeks, months or years."

"Please don't take me off his care Max," her eyes were pleading.

"I won't. You are doing a great job he's used to your voice now. I'm just looking out for you as a friend. Maybe bending the rules bit. You've heard about this kind of stuff in your classes. Some of the best physio's fall in love with their patient, it happens all the time, and are devastated when that person wakes and they doesn't feel the same way about them. It's dangerous El, you _can_ be pulled off a case. I won't do it, but just be careful ok."

El looked down. "It's too late Max"

"Shit. Well you're in it now. You _know_ he isn't going to feel the same way right? You have to go through getting to know the _real_ him when he wakes up. You _know_ this. And he might not be interested. No matter how nice or pretty you are, you just might not be his type. I'm going against my better judgment. Mike is my first priority here and right now you are the best person for giving him the best care during physio. I don't want anybody new doing this."

"Thanks Max, I won't get you into trouble, I would resign first."

"Don't do that El, Mike needs you, we're a month into it. Don't give up on him."

"I won't give up on him."

After Max left, El read to Mike again. She was halfway through the second book, she managed to read through about twenty pages a night. She gave Mike the same warning she did on the previous twenty-eight days.

"You know Mike, today, I just might make a mistake with the voices. If I do you can just wake up and correct me, ok? Ok then, we have a deal." And just like she did the previous twenty-eight days, she made sure to get someone's voice wrong. When she did she would always smirk over at Mike and wait.

After an hour she stopped reading to him. She talked to him again, instead.

She told Mike about living in the cabin with her dad.

She told him how they would butt heads a lot. She said they would yell at each other. She would scream at him. Sometimes she would break things with her ability. She would _never_ use her abilities on him. _Never_.

Every single time though, she would tell him she was sorry and hug his middle. Her dad always cried when he said he was sorry. That always made her cry too.

One day she asked him why he always cried when he hugged her and he told her about Sara, and the black hole. El hadn't cried that hard in her entire life. A profound sadness enveloped her. She would be his second chance. El wouldn't take him for granted.

She never yelled at her dad again. She now understood that he only had her best interests in mind. She might not like his decisions but she began to appreciate everything he'd done for her. She made it a point to hug him every morning, and every night and tell him she loved him.

El had to stop telling Mike about her dad. She had started to cry. Today had been a longer day than usual she was tired.

She took a quick look towards the door, and went over and kissed the corner of his eye.

"It's day 29 Mike. Come back to me. I love you."

* * *

 **Day 38**

El had finished her usual routine with Mike. The deal, the reading, a story about her life and the kiss. She didn't want to but she might have to stop the kiss. She was pushing her luck as it was. So she stopped kissing him. Probably for the best she thought to herself.

It'd day 38, Mike. It's time to wake up..." She looked toward the door and then back at Mike, "... I love you."

She was wrapping things up when Lucas came in.

"Hey Lucas just finishing up. You're not here to see Mike? It's quite a bit past visiting hours."

"Actually, I'm here to see you, we're taking you out."

"I'm not really in the mood Lucas."

"We know, that's why we are taking out."

On the drive, Lucas said, "so is, um, Max seeing anybody right now?"

"You guys are all friends how come you don't know?"

"We kind of lost touch with the whole band thing going on."

El looked over at him smiling, "I don't think so. But she's really busy Lucas, so not being in a relationship might be on purpose. "

"No, I get it. I was just asking." He looked out the window, smiling.

* * *

"...so you remember the time, the chain came off Holly's bike," Dustin turned to El, "Holly is Mike's younger sister, she was probably 3 or 4 at the time."

Max said, "she was crying so much she forgot she could easily walk her bike home, she left it where it was and when she got home, we were all out on the front lawn, and Mike got down on his knees and just hugged her until she stopped crying. Had to be ten or fifteen minutes he waited. When she was done, he took her hand and walked with her to go get her bike to see if he could fix it. The bike wasn't there any more, and Holly cried again only harder. Mike got down on his knees again and hugged her. I swear it had to be an hour. But he wouldn't let go until she'd stopped crying. With all of us searching it didn't take long to find it. Mike was able to get the chain back on and…"

Max stopped talking. El had dual tears trickling down her cheeks. Dustin was sitting closed to her and put his arms around her shoulders. El went into complete meltdown mode. Dustin eyes went wide, he raised his eyebrows and looked at Max.

Dustin said, "you're in love with our best friend." El nodded, head down.

"Just wake him up and tell him." Dustin said. El sobbed, "...I'm trying…."


	4. Chapter 4 - Day 47

**A/N: Happy Birthday to reader Starla Marie Locke. Chapter is for you :)**

* * *

 **Day 47**

On Christmas Eve Day, a storm blew into Hawkins. It was even worse than the storm that El just missed on her trip here. The one that Mike had almost died in. This one promised to go on for a day or so.

El did not have a regular shift. She came to the hospital to do Mike's physio . She planned to spend it with Mike so he wouldn't be alone on Christmas Eve. Ordinarily she'd spend it with her dad, Hawkins police station was short staffed and he was going to fill in especially knowing the storm would be bad. He told her to call him if there were anything he could help with.

She made a quick visit during the day, and saw Max their examining to sheets of paper containing graph lines.

"What's going on Max," El said a little bit worried about the graphs Max was looking at.

"I'm comparing Mike's EEG from this morning, with the baseline we took when he was first brought in.

"Everything ok," El was now more than a little worried.

"You're familiar with brainwaves from your training. Take a look at this. What does this graph tell you?" She showed El one of the printouts.

"That's usually a sleeping pattern. That's Mike's?"

"Yes, it looks like he's sleeping at night, the same as he was when he was first brought in. That's good news. But look at this one, what's this telling you."

El wasn't an expert, like Max was but she knew what Max was referring to, "that's brain activity." El's eyes widened, "Mike's."

"Yes, look at the times…."

El squinted...then her eyes got really wide, "that's when I do his physio and read to him afterwards."

"I know, he's responding to your voice...he's _in_ there El. This is really good news."

El put her face in her hands and cried quietly.

"You're staying with him tonight? Max already knew the answer to that.

El nodded, "I don't want him to be alone, not on-" Suddenly the lights went out.

Emergency lights flickered on. Monitors on battery power started beeping as they switched over from generators.

"Generators will last a while, this storm is just starting. I think we are going to be without power for the night. It's going to get busy for me, I have to go. You'll be ok with Mike?"

El nodded, "I'll watch over him. Keep him company."

She had brought a book of her own, she was going to read after reading to Mike, but with the power outage she knew she would just be talking to him instead.

In the middle of her workout with Mike, the hospital generators finally shut down, and the emergency lights had flickered on. El continued, she could do this with her eyes closed by now anyway.

It got dark, not so dark El couldn't see to make her way around the room. The brightness of the snow kept a natural glow coming through the window.

"Ok, Mike. Power is out. If you happened to notice it going dark, or how it got very quiet in your room, that's the reason."

"It's also too dark for me to read to you. Sorry Mike. We'll just have to entertain each other with conversation...although I have to say, I don't think you're holding up your end."

"I was out with The Party, last week, and Max told the story about you fixing Holly's bike," El stopped and compose herself. She had to change the subject.

"She also said, much to Lucas and Dustin's embarrassment I'm sure, that you guys never had girlfriends." El felt sorry for Mike. How was it he never had a girlfriend? Were they blind? Or did they never take the opportunity talk to him and maybe get to know him? She only knew him through stories The Party had told. There were so many it was getting hard to listen to them without her heart aching too much. After last week El was pretty sure they would not be telling her any more stories. They could see she was hurting.

El went to stand by the window to look outside at the snow covered landscape. The wind was really howling out there. It sounded cold. El hated being cold.

"There's definitely going to be snow for Christmas." As she said that she noticed her breath. It was getting cold in the room. El _really_ hated the cold. She went to Mike's bed, and checked to make sure he had enough blankets..

When she got closer to the bed, she noticed that Mike seemed to be vibrating...he was shivering.

El recognized the signs right away, he had no way of keeping his body temperature up. He wasn't getting enough sustenance from the fluids to allow his body to naturally increase its internal temperature.

There was an age old remedy for that. She went around to the left side of his bed, and crawled underneath the covers with him. She wrapped her arms around him, and drew her leg over his middle to get as much of her body in contact with Mike as possible.

She tilted her forehead to touch Mike, her mouth almost touching his ear. She whispered to him. "I've got you Mike, you'll warm up in a few minutes. You'll be able to sleep."

In a few minutes, his shivering subsided and El breathed a sigh of relief. She would would have to sleep with Mike.

El smiled and flushed, thinking about it. This was not really how she'd expected to spend her first night with a guy. No, this would easily be more special than any first night would usually go…

"I've never been this close to a guy before, MIke. My dad doesn't count. If this is too embarrassing for you to hear, wake up and tell me to stop."

She told Mike that she'd never kissed a guy before, never even held hands. Her hair had taken her entire high school life to grow even a little bit. It wasn't all that long now just a few inches past her ears. Her dad told her not to worry, she was pretty, even when she had really short hair. She knew no guy could get past it. They were mostly interested in blondes with long hair, and she had neither.

She told Mike that she once had a crush on a guy near the end of high school. A few girls had let her know that this guy seemed nice on the outside but he was really only interested in another notch on his belt. It seemed like _all_ guys were like that. So she didn't bother looking their way anymore. And no guys looked her way either.

"Max is right, Mike, you aren't going to know any of this when you wake up. I guess that's why it's easy to tell you all the personal bits of my life. Maybe someday if we are ever friends I can retell all this, without the really personal stuff though. That was only for you...sleeping.. It feels good just to say it out loud. You aren't going to know me." The thought made El feel sadder than she'd felt in a long time.

Mike would not know her. Worse though, El was sure Mike would never love her, there was absolutely no reason he should. No amount of longing, or wishing on her part would change that. This was stupid, she thought to herself. I'm just setting myself up for a bad heartbreak.

I should get reassigned. Max would do make the change if El insisted.

But tonight Mike needed her. He physically needed her body warmth, so for Christmas Eve at least, El would stay with him to keep him warm.

Neither one of them wouldn't be alone. Not tonight.

"Merry Christmas, Mike. I love you." She sighed and fell asleep on his shoulder.

* * *

When Max showed up Christmas morning to Mike's room, the power had come back on. She saw El draped over MIke, under the blankets keeping him warm. It was _cold_. It would be a few minutes before room came back up to a reasonable temperature.

El stirred, woke up a little disoriented, and when she saw Max she quickly disentangled herself from Mike and the blankets and stood up, smoothing out her hospital smock. She cleared her throat, "sorry Max, I-"

Max cut her off, "were keeping him warm, and he wasn't alone. It's ok El. I know you are a complete professional. I know you have a personal interest in this."

"About that.. " El said taking a deep breath.

Max cut her off again with a sharp look, "don't you give up on him, El. Don't. I need you to be there for him. Mike needs you to be there for him. Promise me El..."

El looked into Max's eyes, back at Mike then nodded slowly. "I promise."


	5. Chapter 5 - Day 56-351

**Day 56-351**

El didn't kiss Mike each night anymore. She couldn't bring herself to continue. She did tell him she loved him. Every night. She couldn't bring herself to stop. She knew the futility of it. El was going to live with the hurt. She prepared herself for it a little each day.

Day 65. El was numb the entire day. She went through Mike's physio, did everything she'd been doing for the last two months, but she knew her voice was dull when reading to Mike.

The only bright spot she had each day was telling Mike she loved him. She knew her voice would carry her feelings. She didn't have to put any effort into that.

Day 92. El knew she had to be strong for Mike. If he was going to take his time waking up, El would be resolute and wait. She would have her bad days. She would have really bad days. But she would wait forever for him.

On day 121 El had a breakdown. She had finished a very vigorous workout with Mike's physio and was exhausted. She didn't have the energy to contain her emotions any longer that day. She crawled beside Mike on the bed, and cried on his shoulder. She pleaded with him to wake up. She eventually cried herself to sleep.

For the next 231 days, El worked through Mike's physio, she talked to him through the workout. She read to him for an hour or so every night. She gave him the same warnings about her voices, and that he could wake up and correct her anytime. She didn't tell him anything more of her personal life. She had already told Mike all of her secrets. There was no point anymore.

Max could see the change in El. El was losing hope. She had declined to to go out with the Party a lot more often now. Max saw she wasn't enjoying herself and everyone could see she was just going through the motions.

On day 351, Max asked the Party and El, to meet her in one of the hospital boardrooms.

Max had her EEG printouts. She explained to the Party what the various graph levels meant.

"I've been doing quite a bit of research. These graphs," Max indicated the printouts, "are those of a normal person who's awake, and is getting a good night's sleep."

"Those are Mike's. So why isn't he awake?" Dustin said.

"That's why I asked you here." Max looked back and forth between Dustin and Lucas. She tried not to look at El too long.

"It's like he doesn't want to wake up. Why _is_ that? He should be awake. With the extensive physio he's getting from El, he'd be weak, but there's be no reason for him not to wake up I know it will be a while before he can walk out of here on his own steam. El's physio will hit the second stage when he wakes."

Dustin looked at Lucas. "We think he was unhappy."

"Depressed?"

"Maybe, not that he showed it, definitely not _that_ depressed. We could tell he wasn't really into the music we were playing anymore. He wasn't writing the same type of songs he used to."

"Tell her, Dustin, " Lucas said.

Dustin sighed, "Mike is lonely and he doesn't handle it as well," he said. "We had nobody waiting for us back here, and MIke refused to do one night stands on the road. That's not him anyway. We had a show every second or third night. You do that for a couple of years and it wears on you. Music fans have no idea the dedication a band has to the music. They make a lot of sacrifices. Some bands do stupid shit because they are bored, or they're so famous they think they can get away with it. Not us. We wanted regular lives when we came back to Hawkins."

"It wasn't enough for Mike anymore. " Lucas said. "He was tired of the road. Tired of the music. Tired of everything, like Dustin said, he was unhappy."

Max was thinking out loud. "He has nothing to come back to."

"A year ago I might have agreed," Dustin said, he looked over at El, "but now I think he does."

"He doesn't know it yet," Lucas said.

"I've been trying..." El said in a quiet voice.

"We know El," Max said, "you are going _way_ above and beyond what is required for your job. This isn't on you."

"Have you tried kissing him?" Max said. Dustin and Lucas gave each other a wide eyed expression..

El turned red, "I did early on. I stopped. Not really professional."

"Screw that," Max said, "Start kissing him again. And as for you two, stop visiting." Max looked at Dustin, and at Lucas a bit longer. She said to both of them, "you could be reminding him too much of the band business."

They both looked disappointed but nodded in agreement.

After the meeting when Dustin and Lucas left, El was walking with Max back to Mike's room.

"You were sounding desperate back there," El said.

"I miss my friend." Max said with a sigh. "When I first joined the Party, Mike was against it. He was bitter. I never really understood it. Lucas and I almost had a thing going, but...but nothing, I don't know what happened. I thought that maybe Mike was mad at me for trying to 'steal' Lucas's friendship. And then pissed off at me for not even trying. We got a lot closer. That was later on." El's eyes widened.

"No, not like that, he's not my type."

"Lucas likes you." El said.

"I know. He's never done anything about it."

"He's probably intimidated. You are a doctor, he's a musician. Take matters into your own hands."

"When did El Hopper start dispensing relationship advice?" Max smirked at her.

"At least one of us should be happy," El wiped her eyes.

Max gave her a side hug. "Mike would be a fool to not at least give you a chance…. I've got rounds, catch you later?" El nodded and Max turned off a hallway.

When El got to Mike's room, she noticed he looked to have shifted on his bed. Probably one of the day nurses moving him a bit.

El started physio, "so, sort of good news today. We will be finishing the book, probably with an hour to spare, and I have a treat for you."

"What is it you ask?" El waited...just in case. "With the help of Nancy, Dustin and Lucas, I'm going to be able to read to you the entire run of X-men comics, from number one till you wake up. I'll read the text and describe the panel. Dustin and Lucas were a big help here." She lowered her voice, "sorry I'm not in any of the issues," El smiled, "but I'll show you my ability when you wake up. I might not be as powerful as Jean Grey, but I can hold my own."

El tried not to read too fast. She wanted to take her time and savour the knowledge that she would kiss Mike at the end of the night.

And tell him she loved him.


	6. Chapter 6 - Day 1-352

**Day 1-352**

Day 1:

Mike was sore. He could barely move. No, he couldn't move at all when he tried. He couldn't open his eyes. As far as he could tell he was fully awake. There was a buzzing in his ears…

The buzzing turned out to be voices. He heard "you're the one who saved him from freezing to death out there."

That was Max's voice, he must be in the hospital.

And then he heard the angel's voice, _his_ angel...the angel who looked at him with the most beautiful eyes he knew he would ever see. Those eyes had been crying, he didn't know why. No angel deserved to cry.

The last thing he remembered that day was his angel saying, "ok then, we have a deal." She started to read one of his favourite books to him.

* * *

Day Eleven:

Mike thought he was in some kind of waking dream. Because the story he heard was almost unbelievable. His angel's name was Eleven. She wasn't an angel, but a flesh and blood girl. Her childhood had been awful. He wanted to tell her to stop with this story. It hurt too much to listen to. After awhile he realized that if she had _lived_ it, the least he could do was listen to her as she poured out her grief. He needed to wake up, or open his eyes, or even move . He needed to wake up and hug her as tightly as he could.

Mike came to another realization, he'd felt it when he was cold and she had saved him. He'd been much too disoriented and in pain to give it a name. He couldn't explain it then, but he knew what it was now.

He loved Eleven.

She finished her story, and then this incredible, amazing girl whispered. "You wake up Mike. You wake up so so I can tell you that I love you."

* * *

Day 47:

Mike could hear the storm gathering outside. It sounded a lot like the storm did the night he had his accident. Mike was trying very hard to wake up, open his eyes, he wasn't sure what to call to call it because he felt like he was awake.. He heard someone come in sounded like they were holding on to large sheets of paper. Someone else had come into the room. It was Eleven. Her and Max were talking, Max called her El. Eleven had probably not told Max her first name. They were talking about him!

"He's _in_ there El,"

Yes! He tried to call out. Nothing. He tried his damndest to wake up. What was wrong? He was concentrating so hard he missed their conversation.

At one point all hospital noises stopped. All he could hear was the howling wind outside.

Then he heard Eleven's voice. "Ok, Mike. Power is out. If you happened to notice it going dark, or how it got very quiet in your room, that's the reason."

She was letting him know what was going on so he wouldn't be afraid. He was ok, he wanted to tell her he was ok….

But he wasn't ok, he wanted to wake up. He _needed_ to wake up.

He started to feel a little chilled. Of course, heat would be off in the room. It would not take long before it got frosty in here. He started to shiver. Eleven would notice soon and throw another blanket on him.

He was getting really cold now, he thought back to the night of his accident. He didn't remember the pain so much as he remembered the cold. Eleven had kept him warm that night too.

He was shivering uncontrollably, he'd never felt this cold before. Something was wrong. He could hear Eleven rush to the side of his bed and crawl under the blankets with him. It felt like she was wrapping her entire body around him,

She whispered into his ear, "I've got you Mike, you'll warm up in a few minutes. You'll be able to sleep."

He didn't really want to sleep. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to talk to her all night.

In a few minutes he felt warm again, he could hear Eleven sigh.

Eleven told him about her life. A lot of personal details she was sure he couldn't hear. It didn't matter to him, when he woke up he would tell her everything about himself, his fears, his wishes. Everything. That's what people who love each other do. He would keep no secrets from her. All he needed to do was wake up.

He found out she was spending her Christmas Eve with him, so he would be warm, and he wouldn't be alone.

Eleven didn't kiss him on Day 56. She told him that she loved him, but she didn't kiss him. Mike was disappointed, he'd looked forward to the kiss at the corner of his eye. Sometimes it was the cheek, but mostly the corner of his eye. She never kissed him on the mouth. He longed for it, just the feel of her soft lips on his. That was the first thing he was going to do when he woke up.

He could tell that Eleven was having a bad day on Day 65. Her voice was different. She still read to him, but her voice was monotonous, and she only made half hearted attempts at the voices. The only time her voice sounded the least bit animated, and the honesty came through was when she told him she loved him.

Eleven was an emotional wreck on Day 121. She got through what Mike knew was intense physio, but she was done after that. She crawled up on the hospitable bed and curled up beside him, pleading with him to wake up. It took quite awhile but she cried herself to sleep. Mike couldn't help himself, crying internally and followed her to sleep.

On Day 224 Mike decided this was no longer a waking dream. It was a waking nightmare. I'm really getting tired of this shit, Mike thought to himself. I WANT TO WAKE UP.

He needed to see Eleven. He wanted to talk to her for hours on end. He needed to kiss her. Her affirmation of love to him every night made the pain in his heart a little stronger every day.

Mike was able to move a little in the early morning of Day 351. His heart pounded. I am close, he thought. He couldn't open his eyes but he seemed to be fully awake. His body was not responding to his commands. He was tired by the end of the day, his mental workout had not translated to his physical body. He was discouraged, but in the back of his mind he felt like it would be soon.

When Eleven came in that night she told him that they would be finishing the book she was reading and that she'd be starting the entire run of the X-Men comic. She had a unique way to do it that would allow him to enjoy every panel.

This was good news and bad news. The bad news was there were over three hundred issues of X-Men. That meant she didn't think he would wake up anytime in the near future. The good news was that she would say she loved him another three hundred times. There was more bad news as far as Mike was concerned. That meant almost another year of not being able to be with Eleven.

He didn't know if he could stand another year. Eleven was the only thing that was keeping him going right now.

On day 352 for the entire day Mike had only one thought. Eleven.

Please Eleven, Mike thought...please wait for me.


	7. Chapter 7 - Day 353

**A/N: Last chapter. Many thanks for everyone who stuck with it (and me :) another story on the way)**

* * *

 **Day 353**

El sat on the edge of Mike's bed. Her voice was low, shaky, and a little hoarse. She had cried all night after making one of the most difficult decisions she'd ever faced.

"Mike, please wake up...it's been almost a year...I...I don't think I can do this anymore...I know I promised," tears streamed down her face at the very thought of breaking her promise to him and to Max.. "Just show me a sign...something….anything that let's me know you're there...I can find the strength to stay on if you do….please, Mike." She leaned over and gave him a soft kiss on the mouth. "Please…". El looked down wringing her hands.

El didn't know that Max was just outside the door, leaning her head against the wall. Max was dealing with her own tears. She knew that El was in agony. It would be even worse when Mike woke up not knowing who she was.

"...n."

El's head shot up. Eyes puffy, but wide and alert.

"...ven".

"Mike!" El reached for the medical water bottle, squeezed a few drops into Mike's mouth.

"Eleven."

Max scrambled around the corner wiping her eyes pulling at her stethoscope.

"Did he just call you 'Eleven' ?" Max started a series of quick tests on Mike. She hit a switch auto-adjusting the bed, so his head was raised up.

El leaned over and looked into Mike's eyes. His eyes were beautiful, they could have stopped a train...instead they stopped her heart. She couldn't believe he was looking at her...he was looking. Right. _At._ her.

"Mike…" was all El could say. She leaned over, but Max held her back.

"He doesn't know you, El."

"I know who she is Max, I know everything about Eleven ….I _know_ who she is."

Mike closed his eyes and smiled, opened them back up again, "I've waited 353 days to tell her I love her." El leaned over and kissed MIke.

Mike kissed her back.

They could taste each other's tears.

They didn't stop for what Max thought was an uncomfortably long time. Mike had no intention of stopping, but he got into a coughing fit and needed some water.

"I need to talk to you two." Max said wiping her eyes and clearing her throat.

El swivelled around, sat close beside Mike. With El's help he put his arm around her waist. They both waited for Max.

"Mike a couple of things are going to happen. Even though El did a great job with your physio, you didn't have to do any of the work. Now you do. El is not quite fully trained as a physio therapist, but she was determined and far surpassed everyone else in the class. You could say she was on an accelerated program. Ordinarily it takes a lot longer."

Mike gave El a little squeeze around her waist. El turned to smile at him.

"So she's qualified enough to do the next phase of your physio."

"I actually need to do a complete physical on you right now Mike. More thorough than I usually do"

"Max, please tell me you haven't seen my ju-"

"I lost count months ago Wheeler," Max said smirking. "I'll tell you this. As your physio, El has had her hand so far up your inner thigh it's illegal is some States, and in others you're already married."

Max could have sworn she could feel the heat coming off their faces.

"And one more thing...there is still an open accident investigation, so I have to call Chief Hopper and he will come by and be asking you some questions, and get a statement from you. Before you ask, El can't be in the room with you. Neither can I."

El looked wide eyed at Max and then at Mike, "It's ok Eleven."

"I'm going to call the Chief now, you guys can...talk till he shows up." Max went to make the call.

"Thanks Eleven, you never gave up on me."

"I almost did today Mike. I thought I'd made the decision last night, but when I saw you lying there today, I knew I couldn't do it."

"You saved my life Eleven, and…" Mike took her hand and placed it against his heart. "You _saved_ me." He pulled her down for a hug, as tight as his weakened arms could manage..

"I've wanted to do that since Day eleven. I've loved you since that day...I never want to lose you." Mike looked into her large round eyes.

El shook her head, "you won't lose me." She went in for another kiss.

A loud clearing of the throat, startled both of them.

She gave a big sigh, and turned around, "hi dad...I want you to meet the guy I love, Mike Wheeler."

He had a scowl on his face when she first turned around. Hopper took one look at El, and it disappeared. He had a bit of a goofy grin going on now, nodded at Mike and said, "Yeah, I've heard. I need to talk to Wheeler, you can't be in the room El"

"I know dad, I was just leaving. I need to prep for his physio today…"

* * *

Hopper pulled out his notebook. "So Wheeler how fast were you going in that weather?"

"I'd be surprised it if was much faster than walking speed, Sir. Maybe five miles an hour. You couldn't see anything out there."

Hopper nodded making some notes. "A lot of damage to that car for five miles an hour."

"I didn't see it. I was a little out of it, the only thing I saw once, was Eleven. Then what sounded like something prying open what was left of the doors. That's all I remember about that night."

Hopper gave him a sharp look, "Did you say 'Eleven'."

"I know everything Sir. I heard everything she said to me for the last year. I couldn't respond but I heard it all."

Hopper nodded, "I can't imagine what that must have been like. There's at least one thing you don't know. El never told me but I figured it out. " He took a quick look towards the door to make sure he wasn't being overheard.

"El ripped that car in half to get you out. Keep that under your hat. Seriously Wheeler, nobody can know. And only call her Eleven in front her or me. El to everyone else."

"She saved my life." Mike said, "...If you hadn't saved hers, I wouldn't be talking to you right now. I owe you both so much I'm not sure I'll be ever be able to make it up to either of you."

"That one's easy Wheeler, you just make her the most important thing in your life. You've had a lot of time to figure out how to do that."

Mike nodded.

"I didn't really have any questions I didn't already know the answer to. I just wanted to meet the guy El has been talking about non stop for the last year."

Hopper came over and shook Mike's hand. "At least you know what you're in for Wheeler. You have the advantage I didn't have."

"You raised a kindhearted and gentle spirit. Her drive and focus is a little scary. Someday I'll figure out what she sees in me. For now I'm not going to question it.

* * *

A few minutes after Hopper left. Max and El came back into the room, Max carrying a clipboard, and El with her physio bag and a wide smile on her face.

"Good new Wheeler, as policy we have to inform your insurance company that you regained your faculties and are entering a recovery phase. They must really like you because they are moving you to a private room with, let's call them escalated privileges."

"They probably like my premiums, what do you mean by escalated privileges?

"El gets to stay with you. Night and day. To speed up your recovery of course."

"I was wondering how I was going to be able be with her all the time. I don't want to leave her sight."

El came over and kissed him. "I don't know what I did to deserve you."

"After 353 days I'm finally talking to the girl I fell in love with... _that's_ what you did."


End file.
